Preheat the oven to 200°C. Have your butcher remove the skin and top layer of fat from the pork and discard (or you can keep and use for crackling another day).

Grind the dry rub ingredients in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder until course.

Season the pork with salt. In the casserole dish heat a good glug of oil and when hot, brown the pork on both sides.

Remove the pork from the casserole and cover with the dry rub, getting it in all the nooks and crannies.

Drain the excess fat from the casserole and return the pork to the dish. Pour the cider and water around the pork. Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven to 140°C, cover with a lid (or can use foil over the dish if you don’t have a lid) and cook for a further 3½-5 hours.

Check every hour to ensure the liquid doesn’t dry out, top up with extra water if necessary. Cook until the meat is soft and pulls apart easily.

Remove from the oven, put the pork in a serving dish

Making the BBQ Sauce

Place the casserole dish with the excess liquid on the hotplates, add BBQ sauce ingredients (passata, Dijon mustard, dextrose and vinegar) bring to the boil

Turn the heat down and leave to bubble for 10–15 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and reduced a little.

Whilst the sauce is cooking pull the pork apart with a fork.

We’ve served ours with a fresh coleslaw of cabbage, parsley, mint, radish, carrot and apple dressed with the juice of 1 lime and a drizzle of olive oil. The salad is so light and refreshing, a lovely counter balance with the meat.

Make sure you share!

Note
Apple Cider – When apple cider is made most of the sugar from the fruit is cooked out. Unfortunately manufacturers then add sugar back in to make it sweet. In this recipe we used the driest cider we could find in an average bottle shop (Strongbow Dry) which in 200ml is about a teaspoon of sugar. This recipe serves 8 so it is a very small amount per person.